


Turnabout Traitor!

by Havendance



Series: Truth, Justice, and Horde Politics [1]
Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018), 逆転裁判 | Gyakuten Saiban | Ace Attorney
Genre: (More implied than anything, And Maya is Maya, Catra's devious as usual, Entrapdak, Gen, He wouldn't give that to just anyone), Hordak let Entrapta have a mostly fair trial, Hordak's terrifying when mad, I mean, Kangaroo Courts, Kyle's hopeless, Phoenix has no idea what's going on, Portal shenanigans, legal and scientific fudgery
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-25
Updated: 2019-08-25
Packaged: 2020-09-26 02:48:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,615
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20382433
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Havendance/pseuds/Havendance
Summary: When Phoenix Wright and Maya Fey find themselves suddenly dragged into Entrapta's treason trial in the Horde, the have no choice but to do their best to uncover the truth despite the odds.Or: Hordak learns just what really happened on the day that the princesses invaded with help of a certain defense attorney.





	Turnabout Traitor!

**Author's Note:**

> I just want to say, all those portal shenanigans we got were an absolutely perfect for the purpose of creating random crossovers. I have a perfectly canon excuse to shove these characters in the middle of crazy situation. Anyway, I hope you enjoy this!

“Counter that, Wright,” Edgeworth said. “This evidence proves conclusively that Smith committed the murder.”

“The prosecution makes a good point,” The judge said. “Does the defense have anything to say?”

“Uhhhhhh,” Phoenix groaned.  _ I have no idea. _

“Come on Nick, there’s gotta be something!” Maya said.

_ I’m trying.  _ Phoenix took another look at the evidence. Nope, still no clue.

“If the defense has nothing to add, then it appears I will have to declare the defendant gui--”

Suddenly the power went out in the courtroom. The next second there was a blinding flash of light. Phoenix felt his stomach flip before he fell to the damp metal ground.  _ Wait, what?  _ There was a thunk from next to him and he noticed a flash of purple out of the corner of his eye. Whatever had happened, Maya was there with him.

“Urgh,” he groaned and gingerly picked himself off the ground, looking around. It was clear that they weren’t in California any more. They probably weren’t on Earth either for that matter.

They were in a large metal room lit by dim green lighting which was filled with people. At least Phoenix assumed they were people, most of them looked more monster than human. Towering over the chaos was an imposing throne and sitting on it was a tall pale man wearing mechanical armor. Everyone was staring at them. The room was filled with the familiar sound of people whispering about him.

Despite the alien feel to the whole scene, there was something familiar about the setup.  _ A courtroom? _

Maya was just as confused as he was. “Where are we, Nick?” She asked quietly.

“I have no idea.”

A girl with cat ears and a tail walked over to them and dragged Phoenix to his feet with surprising ease. “Who are you and how did you get here?” she asked.

“My name’s Phoenix Wright,” He held up his hands. “I’m a defense attorney. And I don’t know how I got here. There was just this flash of light and then,” he shrugged. “Poof.”  _ Please don’t kill me. You look like you could kill me. _

Maya picked herself up off the floor. “I’m Maya Fey, I’m a spirit medium. And we really did just appear here.”

The cat girl glanced and Maya and glared before turning back to Phoenix. “A likely story. Sounds suspicious to me. How can I be sure that you guys aren’t actually with the rebellion?” She pulled him in closer.

“We’re not with the rebellion!” Maya shouted from behind him. “We don’t know anything about this place, honest!”

From his throne, the imposing man spoke. “Leave them alone, Catra. It appears that the faulty portal may have brought them here.”

The cat girl- Catra turned let go of Phoenix and turned to the throne. “But, Lord Hordak--”

“I will here no objections, Catra. Or do I need to remind you just how tenuous your position is?”

_ Dang, that guy is intimidating _

Catra bowed. “No, Lord Hordak.” She sounded just a tad resentful.

“Good.” Lord Hordak turned his attention to Phoenix and Maya.  _ Shit, please don’t kill us _ . “You might be useful, Lawyer. Hmm.” He tapped his fingers against the armrests of his throne, the noise ringing out through the room. “Yes.” he said to himself addressing Phoenix. “Lawyer.”

“Yes, sir- err- Lord Hordak?”

“You will defend Entrapta in this trial.”

“What?” Catra burst out. “But Lord Hordak, we don’t know this guy. This wasn’t part of the plan.”

“Enough, Catra. I’ve warned you once. I will not warn you again. This lawyer will defend Entrapta.”

“Yes, Lord Hordak,” Catra said through clenched teeth.

Maya tugged on Phoenix’s sleeve. “I wonder what this Entrapta person did. Are you really going to do this, Nick?”

“It looks like I don’t have much of a choice. I guess we’ll find out,” Phoenix whispered back. He glanced around. There wasn’t anything in the room that looked like a defendant’s chair. “Um, Lord Hordak, sir, where’s my defendant?” he asked nervously.

Catra grinned. “She isn’t here.” She sounded strangely satisfied about it. “She betrayed us and left. It’d be pointless for you to try and prove otherwise,  _ Lawyer _ .”

“I see.”  _ Nothing’s ever easy for me, is it? _

“This is going to be tricky,” Maya whispered.

“We’ve faced trickier cases before.”  _ I’ve got no idea how I’m going to pull this off. I guess I’ll just do what I always do, look for contradictions and dig out the truth from that. _

Lord Hordak banged his fist down on his throne, making a loud clanging noise that echoed off the walls silenced the room. “The trial for the traitor Entrapta will now begin.”

Catra turned around with a flick of her tail and went to the prosecution side of the room. “Have fun losing,” she hissed as she walked past him.

Maya clenched her fists. “Come on, Nick, we’ve got to prove her wrong.”

“Uh, Yeah.”  _ Let’s just try to get out of this alive. _ Phoenix went to go stand on the other side of the room.

Catra looked up to Lord Hordak, who nodded, and then she began her opening statement. “Two weeks ago, the princesses invaded the heart of the Fright Zone. Princess Entrapta of Dryl was the one who let them in, betraying and abandoning us. She is guilty of treason of the highest degree.”

“The defense maintains that, um, our defendant is innocent.”  _ I have no idea what’s going on. _

Catra scoffed. “To prove my point, Kyle here is going to testify about what he saw that day.” She walked over to the crowd and pulled out a scrawny white guy, dragging him to the center of the room. The guy looked terrified. “Come on, tell them what happened.” She walked back to her place.

In the center of the room, Kyle scratched nervously at his collar and looked down at the floor. “Uh, that day, I was on patrol in the hallways around Lord Hordak’s Inner Sanctum. I saw Emily walk by, but didn’t think much of it at the time. A little later, the princesses attacked. I was knocked out so I don’t remember anything else. Our security is top notch though! The only way the princesses could’ve gotten in is if someone let them in. Entrapta must have used Emily to do it.”

_ I don’t know enough about this place to know if there are any contradictions in what he said. Guess, I’ll just have to press to find out more. _ “The defense would like cross examine the witness.”

“You want to do what to the who?” Catra asked.

“Err, I want to ask Kyle questions.”

“Is that even allowed?”

From his throne, Hordak waved his hand dismissively. “Do it.”

“Thank you, yo- Lord Hordak.” Phoenix turned to Kyle. _I guess I’ll start with the obvious. _“Um, who’s Emily? Shouldn’t we be asking her about what happened?  
Kyle looked confused. “Emily can’t talk. She’s Entrapta’s robot.”

_ I see.  _ “And where is she now, witness?”

“She’s right there, you idiot,” Catra said pointing to a circular robot in a cage. It was guarded by to other identical looking robots.

_ Ah… _ “And how were you able to tell that the robot was Emily instead of some other robot?”

Kyle sweated nervously. “Well, um, you see, uh.” He was tugging at his collar. “Emily walks with a limp! That’s how I was able to tell it was her.”

Catra nodded. “And, as evidence, we have these footprints that Emily left.” She held up a photograph.

_ Finally, some evidence.  _ “Can I take a look at that, uh, Catra.”

“Look all you want, Lawyer.” She held it out.

Phoenix walked over and grabbed it. It depicted huge scuffle of footprints but sure enough, on top were the footprints of a robot. Maya looked over his shoulder.

“Hey,” she said, “is it just me, or is something off about that picture?”

“I’m right with you, Maya. I just can’t quite put my finger on it.”  _ I guess I’ll come back to this.  _ He looked back to Kyle who looked like he might collapse if people kept staring at him so hard. “Did you actually see Emily letting the princesses in?”

“N-No.”

Catra hissed at Kyle.

“Well, I-I did hear it though,” he hastened to add. “There was some beeping and the whoosh of the door opening and the princess all charged in yelling ‘For Etheria!’ or something.”

“But you didn’t actually see this with your own two eyes.”

“No,” Kyle scratched the back of his head with a sheepish expression on his face. “I got hit in the back of the head before I could see anything.”

_ I feel like there’s a contradiction in there somewhere, but I don’t know enough about this place to call him out on it. _

Catra crossed her arms and began to tap her foot on the floor. “Are you going to waste any more time on this pointless exercise, Lawyer, or can we just lay down the guilty verdict already?”

Maya bristled next to Phoenix. “We can’t give up now, Nick! There’s something fishy about this whole thing.”

_ That’s because we’re in the middle of a kangaroo court, Maya. There was something fishy about that testimony though. _ “This exercise isn’t pointless, Miss, which’d you see if you were paying attention.” Phoenix drew himself up to his full height. “There is clearly a contradiction in the witness’s testimony.

For a split second, Catra looked startled, but the moment was gone so quickly that he might have imagined it. “And just  _ what _ would that be?”

“It’s in the very evidence that you showed, the footprints!” He pointed dramatically at her.

Catra scoffed. “So what, it show’s Emily’s footprints. You’re going to have to be a little specific to get anywhere, Lawyer.”

_ I can’t back off now. _ “That’s the thing, if you look closely at these footprints, then you’ll see that they aren’t Emily’s at all,” Phoenix said, gesturing to the drawing. “The witness clearly stated that Emily walks with a limp, but if you look at this evidence, the footprints are walking with an even gait.” He slammed his hands down on the makeshift bench he was standing behind. “Therefor, those footprints can not belong to Emily.”

“What!?” Kyle slumped lower in the center of the room.

“Gah.” Catra’s claws dug deep trenches in the bench in front of her.

“Nice, Nick! I knew you could do it,” Maya cheered.

“Thanks, but I don’t think we’re in the clear yet.”

Sure enough, Catra relaxed a minute later. “Kyle can explain that. Tell them Kyle.” Her voice sounded very dangerous.

“Well, uh, you see, um,” Kyle looked very uncomfortable. “Entrapta’s, like, a genius. She, uh, must’ve hacked another robot to let the princesses in. So it wouldn’t be as obvious.”

“See,” Catra said, “problem solved.”

_ That doesn’t sound very convincing to me.  _ “But you specifically said that the robot was Emily in your testimony, Kyle.”

“I-I was confused. There was a lot going on.” Kyle stood up just a hair straighter. “Besides, there was a robot. It just wasn’t Emily.”

_ I don’t know about that. There’s something fishy about this evidence.  _ “So you’re positive there was a robot.”

Kyle nodded once emphatically and then a couple times more for good measure. “There was definitely a robot.”

Phoenix smiled slightly. He’d figured out was fishy about the evidence. “Actually, the evidence contradicts that.”

“What do you mean!?” Catra was torturing her bench again. “We have the footprints. Isn’t that enough proof for you.”

“Objection! The footprints tell us nothing!” Phoenix pulled back out the picture. “This was taken after the fact, correct?”

“Yeah, so?”

“If you look closely, you’ll see that the robot’s footprints are on top of all the other footprints.” He pointed at the paper. “If the princesses had come back through the hallway, then they would’ve left footprints on top of the robot’s!”

Catra was unphased. “The robot was probably the last person to walk away.”

“Impossible! The footprints are clearly going towards the door!” Phoenix slammed his hands down on his bench. “This evidence can do nothing to prove my client’s guilt.”

“Well, we don’t need the evidence, we have Kyle’s testimony.”

“Kyle’s testimony is filled with holes! It proves nothing.”

Catra paused at that. When she spoke again, her voice was deathly calm. Somehow, that made her even scarier. “Fine, you want proof, I’ll give you proof. Kyle, get out of here.”

“Y-yes, Force Captain!” Kyle ran off very quickly. 

Catra walked out from behind her bench. “Lord Hordak, if I may, I can tell this these people just what happened that day to prove Entrapta’s guilt.”

“Go ahead,” Lord Hordak said, still staring down impassively from his throne. Phoenix had almost forgotten that he was there. That guy still gave him the chills.

Catra bowed, a wicked smile on her lips. “Thank you, Lord Hordak.” She strode to the center of the room and looked directly at Phoenix with something nasty in her eyes.

“That day, I’d left Entrapta guarding the prisoner.” she said, beginning her testimony. “When I went back to the inner sanctum, though, she was gone. I went to go look for her and I found her in her lab, letting the princesses into the Horde remotely.” Catra pulled out a screen. “Here’s security footage to prove it. We were unfortunately only able to recover a fragment of it. She covered her tracks behind her.”

Phoenix took the screen. Maya peeked over his shoulder. A short fragment of film, about thirty seconds, was playing on loop. It showed a woman with incredibly long purple tapping away on a keyboard.

“That must be Entrapta,” Maya said. “I’ve gotta, that’s some impressive hair.”

“Yeah,” Phoenix said absentmindedly.  _ Is it just me, or is it a little fishy that you can’t actually see what she’s doing in the film? _

About a third of the way through the clip, Catra entered the room. It was clear that she was talking with Entrapta but there was no way to tell what she was saying. There was a sudden flash of static in the video that obscured the next bit, but it almost looked like Entrapta beckoning to Catra with her hair. Then, the static was gone and Catra went over to look at the screen. The next time she started to speak, it was clear that she was losing her temper. Then, Entrapta started to run for the door and the camera went black for a second before going back to the start.

“That does look awfully suspicious,” Maya said. “I wish we could see the whole thing.”

Phoenix nodded. “Same here, but it looks like we’re just going to have to work with what we’ve got.”

From the center of the room, Catra raised an eyebrow at them. “That proof enough for you, Lawyer?”

“It certainly looks conclusive,” Phoenix said. “Could you please continue your testimony?”

“Of course,” Catra gave a mock bow. “When I saw what she was doing, I obviously went to confront her. She made a break for it. I tried to stop her, but she escaped into the vents before I could catch her. She betrayed us, plain and simple.”

“Is it just me, or is there off about what she’s saying?” Maya asked. “Can I take another look at that video?”

“Uh sure.” Phoenix handed her the screen. “I’m right with you, Maya.”  _ There’s definitely something she’s trying to hide. Let’s try to get that out of her!  _ “Lord Hordak,” he turned to the throne, “the defense would like to cross-examine the witness.”

“I already gave you permission,” Lord Hordak hissed. “Don’t press your luck.”

_ Oops.  _ “Err, of course, Lord Hordak. Sorry.”  _ I’ve got to remember that this isn’t the court I’m used to.  _ Phoenix turned back to Catra.  _ Let’s start from the beginning.  _ “This prisoner you mentioned, could they tell us anything about the incident in question?”

Catra gave a single, harsh laugh. “Adora? No. She’s the reason the princesses were here in the first place. Unfortunately, they succeeded in breaking her out. Even if we still had her, she wouldn’t tell us anything.”

“I see.” _So much for that. _“When you found Entrapta in the lab, how could you tell that she was remotely letting in the princesses?”  
“It was really obvious. She had all the camera feeds pulled up and it showed that she was opening doors for them. I asked her what she was doing, and she didn’t even try to hide it.”

_ That certainly fits the evidence, but there’s something off about the whole thing that’s bothering me. I should press further.  _ “Do you have any idea why she didn’t try and hide it from you? If she was committing treason, shouldn’t she try to avoid getting caught?”

Catra shrugged. “I could already see what she was doing. She probably didn’t see any sense in denying the obvious. Why does it matter anyway? It doesn’t change what she was doing.”

“Objection! Of course it matters. If she wasn’t acting guiltily then there’s the chance that you misinterpreted what she was doing and falsely accused her!”

Catra just smirked. “Come on, Lawyer. You’re grasping at straws here and it’s obvious. There’s no reason for me to falsely accuse Entrapta. Besides, you missed what I said about it being obvious that she was guilty.”

Phoenix slammed his hands down on his bench. “If it was obvious, then why did she try and show you what she was doing on the screen in the first place?”

“What do you mean?” Catra took a step back. She actually looked a little taken off guard. “Where’s your proof?”

“It’s right here.” Phoenix took the screen from Maya, running it at the appropriate point. “As you can see here, Entrapta clearly called you over after you entered the room. Why would she do that if she had something to hide?”

“Gah. Um, you see.” Catra fumbled with her words for second before her usual confident smile returned to her face and she took another step forward. “It’s quite simple really. She knew that I’d be suspicious if she tried to hide it, so instead, she tried to pass off as something else. I saw through it immediately, though.”

“And why didn’t you mention this in your testimony earlier?”

“It seemed like an unnecessary detail.”

“That detail could be vital! The defense requests that you testify in more detail regarding your confrontation!”

“Fine.” Catra shrugged. “Why not.” She paced back and forth for a second before saying anything. “When I entered the room, Entrapta was working on that computer like she always does. I usually wouldn’t of thought much of it, but since she’d abandoned her post, I was sure she was up to something suspicious. She tried to throw me off guard by claiming she was monitoring the princesses progress instead of helping them, but it was obvious that she was lying. When I confronted her about it, she didn't even try to deny what she was doing. She just ran and she managed to escape into the ventilation before I could stop her.”

_I’m definitely getting closer to the truth. Let’s if I can get all the way there! _“You said that the defendant had abandoned her post. What exactly did you mean by that?”  
Catra scoffed. “Weren’t you listening earlier, Lawyer? She was supposed to be guarding the prisoner in Hordak’s Inner Sanctum. Really, you’ve got to pay more attention to things.”

_ Oh yeah. Oops.  _ “How exactly did you know that Entrapta was helping the princesses instead of say, trying to stop them?”

“Look, how many times do I have to say this? It was obvious.”  
Phoenix slammed his hand down on the bench in front of him. “And yet that’s all you say! You’ve given us no detail that we can use to confirm or deny statement. For all I know, you could be making up this whole story!”

Catra actually looked a little taken aback at that. “W-well. Fine. I’ll tell you how I knew. She had the camera feeds pulled up and she was doing stuff on the computer and the princesses were going further and further into the Horde. If she’d been trying to stop them, then they’d be stopped and they were most definitely not.. That’s not to mention the fact that she didn’t deny any of my accusations. Is that enough for you?” She spat the words out.

“Um, yes.”  _ Let’s try a different tact.  _ “If Entrapta ran right past you, why were you unable to stop her from escaping? You should’ve had the perfect chance to stop her.”

“She caught me off guard, okay?” Catra crossed her arms. “There was a lot going on that day. Besides, she used her hair to get into one of the vents before I could stop her.”

“Where exactly was this vent?”

“It was in her lab, near the doorway. She didn’t have very far to go and, like I said, she caught me off guard.”

_ You don’t really seem like the sort of person who gets caught off guard. _ “Did she leave anything behind?”

“No, and she’d started the process of erasing everything that she’d been doing. We were only able to get that fragment of video.”

“I see.”  _ I think I’m starting to see what’s going on, but I need more proof. There’s got to be the truth hidden somewhere in this mess. _

“Hey, Nick! I think I found something,” Maya said. “Look.” She shoved the screen in his face. The video was paused on a frame that showed Entrapta starting to leave the room. “Right there.” She pointed at what looked like a dark grey smudge on the slightly lighter grey floor. 

“I see?”  _ What am I supposed to be looking at? _

“Entrapta dropped that. It could be evidence!”

“Yeah. Great job Maya.” Phoenix turned back to Catra. “So, just to reiterate, Entrapta left nothing behind when she fled. Is that correct.”

“You did hear me the first time, Lawyer. Didn’t you?”

“I did,” Phoenix smiled slightly, “but I just wanted to make sure, since your answer clearly contradicts the evidence!”

“Grgh!” Catra took a step back. “What do you mean? We found nothing.”

“If you look closely at this video right here,” Phoenix paused the video at the appropriate point and handed it to her, “Then you’ll see that the defendant clearly dropped something on her way out. This is evidence that could be vital to the case!”

“What!?” Catra stumbled backwards. For a second, she was stunned, but then she smiled a sly grin. “I think that you’re overlooking something important, Lawyer: We. Found. Nothing. We’ve gone over that room with a fine tooth comb and we haven’t found your mystery item. You’re going off nothing more than a speck in a video. You’re going to need something more concrete than that.”

“There's still the possibility that a viral piece is evidence was overlooked. Lord Hordak, the defense requests that they be able to search the room.”

“There's no point in you searching again. Lord Hordak, surely you--”

“Enough.” Lord Hordak said, cutting off Catra’s objection. “You may search the room, Lawyer. Force Captain Scorpia, escort them there.”

A tall Scorpion woman stepped forward and saluted. “Yes, Lord Hordak.” She turned to Phoenix and Maya and beckoned with one claw. “Come on, it’s this way.”

Phoenix lost track of where they were quickly as they made their way through twisting hallways and doors that hissed open in front of them. The room that she led them to was small, plain, looked pretty much picked over. There were various drawings hung on the wall with notes written in a script that clearly wasn’t english. In one corner, there was a giant computer with the screen completely black.  _ I hope I haven’t made a mistake. It doesn’t look like there’s much to find here. _

“Come on, Nick! Let’s get looking!” Maya said, immediately going over to the corner with the computer and poking around on the floor.

“I’ll just stand over here,” the scorpion woman said. “Let me know when you give up.”

Phoenix quickly scanned the floor. There was nothing obviously laying out.  _ My job’s never easy, is it? _ He looked up at the ceiling and saw the vent that Catra claimed Entrapta had escaped through. It was just inside the door. To get out, Entrapta would have to run right past Catra.  _ She’d have to caught pretty off guard to not be able to stop someone from running right past her.  _

“Stop standing around and help me look!” Maya said.

“I’m coming,” Phoenix got down on his hands and knees and started looking under the few pieces of furniture that decorated the sparse space. When none of that proved fruitful, Phoenix turned his attention to examining the siding along the wall, maybe there was a hole that their, hopefully real, vital piece of evidence fell into. When Maya saw what he was doing, she began to do the same thing in her area.

“Nick! I found something!” Maya called out all of a sudden

Phoenix hurried over.

“Look.” She reached out and jiggled at a part of the wall. “This bit’s loose. Can you help me pry it up?”

“Sure.” Together, they managed to pull the panel away.. 

Maya reached into the hole in the wall and started groping about. “I think I can feel something back there.” She dug around a little more before triumphantly pulling out what looked like a thick grey stick. “I found our evidence!” She took a closer look at it. “What is this thing anyway?”

“I don’t know, but why don’t you hold onto it for now.”

“Sure thing” Maya tucked it away in her spirit medium outfit. 

The Scorpion Lady led them back to the courtroom.

“Finally decided to give up?” Catra asked, sneering.

Phoenix shook his head. “Not yet.”

Maya pulled out the grey stick thing. “We found this.”  
Catra’s eyes widened and she took a step back. “Entrapta’s recorder?! Impossible. I searched the room from top to bottom! You must’ve found that somewhere else.”

Scorpia stepped forward. “I was watching them, they didn’t leave the room.”

Catra hissed and Scorpia took a step back. When Catra turned to look back at Phoenix and Maya there was a terrifying expression on her face. “You think you can win with that? It’s probably not even relevant.”

“Well, let’s see about that.”  _ Here’s hoping that there’s something good on here. _ He nodded to Maya and she pushed a button.

“Portal Log Day 17,” a rough female voice came out of the device. The only other sound that could be heard in the courtroom was the noise of Catra’s tail swinging from side to side. “As a last minute precaution, I’ve run a few more simulations before our first test of the new portal. The results are fascinating to say the least.”

There was the sound of a door opening and then the next voice on the recording was Catra’s. “What are you doing here? You should be Hordak’s lab. We need to fire up the portal.”

“Actually, I’ve been running some tests and the data suggests that firing up the portal could be unbelievably catastrophic! Reality itself could collapse!” Entrapta sounded entirely too excited about the possibility. “Adora was right. We need to wait.”

“Adora’s right? Of course she’s right. She always wins.” In the recording, Catra spat out the words. “I’m going to win this time though. We are going to open that portal.”

“But weren’t you listening? We can’t,” Entrapta said. “I’m going to tell Hordak. He’ll understand.” 

The recording broke off with a burst of static. The entire courtroom was quiet.

“The Defense, uh,” Phoenix trailed off as it became clear that no one was paying attention to him. Instead, everyone was looking at Lord Hordak who was touching something on the front of his armor and had a truly terrifying expression on his face.

“What did you do to her?” Lord Hordak asked in an angry voice that made Phoenix want to be anywhere other than this room.

Catra eyes were wide with fear and her hair was standing up. “”L-lord Hordak, I can explain-”

“Then explain.”

“This conversation, it took place before I realized that she betrayed us.”

_ That’s clearly false, but I’m not sure if I want to be a part of this. _

“Lies!” Hordak slammed his fist down on his throne. “All you tell me is lies. I should never have let Entrapta talk me into giving you a second chance.”

“Well, I brought you Adora, didn’t I?”

“And you expect that to make up for your betrayal? You’re worthless to me.”

“Me? Worthless?” Catra put a hand to her chest. “After everything I’ve done for the Horde? Everything I’ve done for you? I’ve brought you closer to victory than you’ve gotten on your own. You want to know about Entrapta? I’ll tell you. She was going to let the princesses win, so I stopped her. That’s what happened.” By the end of her speech, Catra was breathing heavily and her eyes were burning with emotion.

Lord Hordak seemed unfazed by her outburst. “Where is she,” he asked intensely.

Catra gave a short, wry laugh. “Somewhere where you’re never going to find her.”

“WHERE IS SHE?”

Catra seemed unmoved by his rage. “She’s Beast Island. Better hope that she’s still in one piece.” She smirked.

Lord Hordak leaned back on his throne. “Arrest her!” 

A few brawny soldiers in Horde uniforms ran up and began to restrain Catra.

“You may have escaped your fate once,” he said to her as she was led away. “But you will not escape it again.”

Catra said nothing as she was escorted down the hall to someplace deep within the Horde. The entire court was in an uproar over the unexpected turn of events. Phoenix could only see a few people who looked unsurprised in the whole crowd.

“Wow,” Maya whistled. “Remind me never to get on either of their bad sides.”  
“I’ve got to agree with you on that.” _Though it might be too late to avoid Catra’s bad side._

It took awhile for Lord Hordak’s soldiers to calm down the chaos but once it had finally settled, Lord Hordak looked down from his throne and straight at them. "Hmph, it appears that you have helped me out, Lawyer. Name your reward."

"All I really want is to get home, Lord Hordak." 

"Well, if the shockwave from the portal doesn't rebound and send you back on its own, then you'll have to wait for me and Entrapta to perfect our portal. What planet did you come from?"

"Uh, Earth."

"I've never heard of it. But I promise to give you the resources to find it."

"Thank you."  _ Let's hope the shockwave rebounds then, because I really don't want to be stuck here forever. _

Lord Hordak then stood up and addressed the entire room. “I will depart for Beast Island immediately. Force Scorpia, you and your squad will accompany me.”

The scorpion woman stepped forward and saluted. “Yes, Lord Hordak.” She took a step back. There was an unreadable expression on her face.

“Force Captain Serpena,” Lord Hordak continued.

A person who was a woman on the top half and snake on the bottom slithered forward. “Yesss, Lord Hordak?”

“Oversee the running of the Horde until I return. Do not fail me.”

“Of courssse, Lord Hordak,” The snake woman bowed and slithered back into the crowd.

“Lawyer.”

“Er, yes, Lord Hordak?”

“You have proven yourself trustworthy. Make sure no one crosses me while I’m gone.”

_ I have no idea what I’ve gotten myself into.  _ “Yes, Lord Hordak.”

“So, we’re in charge now, huh?” Maya said. “Sounds like fun.”

_ I don’t know how you manage to be so peppy about all this Maya. _

With that, Lord Hordak strode out of the makeship courtroom, some impish monster trailing behind. As soon as he left, everyone in the courtroom began to talk at once. 

Later, once Lord Hordak had left for beast island, and Phoenix and Maya were settled in the room that would be theirs for the foreseeable future, Maya was still entirely too peppy about the whole situation. “So, Nick, how are we going to exercise our new power? Oh, I know, we can have them bring us breakfast in bed!

“Come on Maya, shouldn’t we be focusing on trying to get home?”

She shrugged. “You heard the scary dude, either we get back or we don’t. We might as well make the best of this situation.” She suddenly clapped her hands together. “I just had a great idea, we can go on a ride in one of their spaceship thingies!”  
“I don’t think they’re--” Suddenly Phoenix’s stomach flipped. The ground came up, or perhaps he fell down. “Uggh, my head,” he groaned.

“Are you going to lie on the floor all day, Wright, or are you actually going to participate in this trial?”

_ That voice, could it be?  _

Next to Phoenix, Maya was rubbing her own head. “That wasn’t fun,” she said. “Hey Nick, are we...?”

“We’re back in the courtroom.” Phoenix stood up. Everything was just as it was when they’d left.

“Since it appears that the defense has recovered,” the judge said, “I will now lay down the verdict.”

“Quick, you have do something!”

“I know. I know.”

“Hey! Maybe it’s like our last case and Edgeworth’s trying to set up our defendant!”

_ Somehow, I don’t think that’s it.  _ “Well, there’s only one thing I can do.”

The judge raised his gavel. “I find the defendant--”

“Objection!”

**Author's Note:**

> So, I got this as a random idea and then it turned out to be really kind of long. I have no idea how that happened. On the other hand, this was really fun to write, so there's that.
> 
> Serpena's my OC force captain because we've only met Catra and Scorpia so far and after what just happened, Hordak doesn't trust either of them enough to run the Horde while he's gone. 
> 
> I would've liked Maya to do a little more in this fic but I was trying to emulate a Phoenix Wright Courtroom scene and she really doesn't do much there besides say stuff like 'that sounds fishy' and basically give hints to player. Phoenix has no idea what's going on here, but he's in his element when he's clueless. I mean: temporary amnesia in court, not guilty verdict; called to defend a schoolgirl in a country that he didn't pass bar for while on an exchange program, not guilty verdict; called to defend someone in a literal witch trial when as far as he knows he's been a baker all his life; not guilty verdict. I'm just saying, the Horde's kangaroo court would be no match for him.
> 
> I do have a sequel planned for this fic where featuring more entrapdak and a lot less ace attorney, but I don't know when I'll get a chance to write it. So, if you want to see Hordak and Entrapta's reunion, be sure to keep an eye out for it!


End file.
